Eth Zurich

Andreas Christian Haselbacher

Lukas Geissbühler

Aldo Steinfeld

Philipp Furler

The present invention to provide a method of operating a thermal energy storage device comprising a body of heat transfer fluid, said body of heat transfer fluid comprising an upper temperature region comprising heat transfer fluid having a temperature above a upper threshold temperature, a lower temperature region comprising heat transfer fluid having a temperature below a lower threshold temperature and a thermocline region separating the upper and lower temperature regions and comprising heat transfer fluid having a temperature above a lower threshold temperature and below an upper threshold temperature, wherein during charging of the thermal energy storage device, heat transfer fluid is removed from the thermocline region of the body of heat transfer fluid and when the temperature of the heat transfer fluid being removed from the thermocline region of the body of heat transfer fluid rises above a maximum temperature, said heat transfer fluid being removed is brought to a temperature equal to or below said maximum temperature, wherein the maximum temperature is above the lower threshold temperature and/or wherein during discharging of the thermal energy storage device, heat transfer fluid is removed from the thermocline region of the body of heat transfer fluid and when the temperature of the heat transfer fluid being removed from the thermocline region of the body of heat transfer fluid falls below a minimum temperature, said heat transfer fluid being removed is brought to a temperature equal to or above said minimum temperature, wherein said minimum temperature is below the upper threshold temperature.

Thermocline control method

Disclosed is a thermochemical reactor system and method for a temperature swing cyclic process with integrated heat recovery having at least two modules, wherein each module includes at least one chemical reaction zone and at least one thermal energy storage unit. The at least two modules are operationally connected for at least one heat transfer fluid for transporting heat between the two modules. Each chemical reaction zone includes at least one reacting material that undergoes in a reversible manner an endothermic reaction at temperature Tand an exothermic reaction at temperature T, wherein Tand Tdiffer from each other. The at least one reacting material is provided in at least one encapsulation within each of the chemical reaction zones such that a contact of the reacting material and the at least one heat transfer fluid is avoided.

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Gockhausen, Switzerland

Andreas Christian Haselbacher